of oxford will offer places to students with lower grades from disadvantaged backgrounds for the first time. the radical scheme comes amid criticism from middle—class oxford rejects and head teachers that private school students are being squeezed out by the university's diversity drive. with me is michaela bergman, who is a principal social specialist at the asian infrastructure investment bank. good morning. good morning. normally based in beijing, great to have you with us in london today. let's start with us in london today. let's start with the front page of the times, philip hammond, the chancellor, who is actually at the confederation of british industry. he will be talking there, and this is about what he will stay in his speech. yes, it is

alleged that he is going to say there was no mandate for a no deal brexit, and therefore by virtue of that he is criticising... making an attack on borisjohnson. we go back to the old we can't escape brexit, and in the context of what is going on with the conservative party. i think the issue again is do we have a deal with brexit or do we have no deal, and this isjust another story about that. so this is the chancellor, as the article says in the telegraph, he will probably give his strongest warning yet of the implications for a no deal, the damage it could do to the uk economy. he has an audience who will com pletely economy. he has an audience who will completely agree with him, the confederation of british industry has been very vocal about the fact that they want a relationship with europe which is as close as possible, but this is all geared towards boris johnson possible, but this is all geared towards borisjohnson as boris johnson looks to step into the role

of prime minister, if and when in the near future, it of prime minister, if and when in the nearfuture, it is of prime minister, if and when in the near future, it is expected that theresa may will step down. but it does talk about the cabinet having a meeting today and on the agenda, they will talk about whether they should scale up no deal planning. this is the problem with the uncertainty. you have to plan for every scenario. the real issue is the uncertainty, and i think also for businesses. you need certainty, what is the regulation, what is the situation? everyone is in this no man's land of uncertainty. and i think that is why industry, they wa nt think that is why industry, they want a deal, but they want to know what they are going to have to deal with, if you get my meaning. this is the weakness. absolutely, it is the lack of clarity, especially with the labour party, the conservative party, seemingly making no headway with their own discussions and negotiations. it seems to be going round and round in circles. and we

are getting very dizzy. let's have a look at the front page of the guardian, and some of the implications of all of this. this is a poll that the guardian has seen done by an organisation that their statistics, their research, shows that actually racism has risen since the referendum in 2016, which is something we have all felt. we all feel this is a very toxic time. i think we feel it is very divisive, very polarised, and i think they polled 1000 people. there is divisive rhetoric, and people... racists, apparently, i feeling increasingly confident to make state m e nts increasingly confident to make statements or to articulate their views, which would not have happened before. so i think this is sort of... i've... in the context of everybody being so divided and against each other, people feel they have a license to say really pretty

unacceptable things. and it quotes in this article some of the leading candidates, including from ukip, the independent tommy robinson, they are quoted specifically, but it talks about as well that both within the conservative and labour party they have been tainted since 2016 with allegations of islamophobia, anti—semitism, that it is notjust ukip, necessarily, or other hard right organisations. and the article also mentions there has been more racist in sighted criminality. racially motivated hate crime has gone up racially motivated hate crime has gone up as racially motivated hate crime has gone up as well, that is what this article shows. which is extremely depressing. it is depressing, but we will see how things emerge as time goes by. until we know where the uk is headed, all this discussion and debate is ongoing. the financial

times front page of course will focus on huawei. this story absolutely dominated, wall—to—wall, yesterday, the news that google will be restricting android usage, updates, the use of apps, et cetera, for those who have huawei devices. the financial times says huawei was ready for this, they are teeing up their own software. i think this article picks up on the whole fact of the supply chain and how interconnected is nurses are. so huawei rely on intel for its pieces, and many other goods around the world require very complex supply chains. so this is an interesting view, you can see huawei actually looking out at how they will find their goods and make their own pieces. i think it shows the current global world is very interconnected, and what does that mean? and one

thing that i didn't realise, and this is pointed out, the huawei global shipments last year were 200 million, and smartphones used by huawei around the world are some 500 million now in 170 countries. they are the world's second biggest supplier of smartphones. if they cannot continue their relationship with google, it will take them a while to get there. i guess it will, but they will probably do it. where iam but they will probably do it. where i am based in but they will probably do it. where iam based in beijing, but they will probably do it. where i am based in beijing, everyone has a huawei phone. absolutely, and the technology is so much more advanced, isn't it, in every single area within mainland china stop it is quite phenomenal. use technology for, —— for everything, you don't use cash. we talk about the trade

war between the us and china, the global ramifications of what is happening in the middle east is extremely worrying, and again it is something we are talking about daily here on the briefing. certainly in terms of the tensions being ratcheted up, iran going ahead with its production of enriched uranium. but it is actually still within the agreement. it is enough to produce power. they are ratcheting it up, but it could be a signal... in this febrile environment where countries are pitched against other countries, with jump's statement versus iran and iran still waiting for an agreement from the europeans, because europeans have still not come up with their agreement and what they will do vis—a—vis iran. come up with their agreement and what they will do vis—a—vis iranm is something to keep a very close eye on, and every day, in gulf news

and arab news, all the press is very focused on this. the daily telegraph, others have this story as well, this is 0xford increasing its inta ke well, this is 0xford increasing its intake by quite a significant amount. there is always a hot debate about this, whether this is... you know, quotas necessary to enable those who don't have a chance to be ina those who don't have a chance to be in a place like 0xford or cambridge, what is your take on this?” in a place like 0xford or cambridge, what is your take on this? i think it isa what is your take on this? i think it is a particularly british issue here because of the role of private education. but i think you can also look at it as levelling the playing field. when you look at actually what they are going to be doing, a lot of it is providing free accommodation, and not having accommodation, and not having accommodation charges, enabling those children from families who might not otherwise be able to afford to go to university. there are some grades that are going to be accepted that are lower, but they

are particular children. they are those who are acting as carers and/or who are refugees. so i think it is an attempt to level the playing field for those that might not have the opportunity otherwise. so you think this is a good idea, it is progressive? i think it is progressive. it is giving an opportunity for those that might not otherwise have it. again, it is a small percentage. they are not opening it up, but they are providing an opportunity. and some people who just need that little bit ofa people who just need that little bit of a left. because their circumstances have been so difficult. it has been great to have you in the programme. and thank you for your company as well. whatever you are up to today, i hope you have a really good day. and thanks for your comments and lovely tributes to niki lauda. i will see you soon. goodbye. hello there. we've had some interesting clouds sent in to us here at the bbc

weather centre over recent days. this was monday's effort from cardiff. it's a funnel cloud, a tornado that doesn't quite reach its way all the way down to the ground. and what about this beauty, from sunday, from the north yorkshire area. but what if the atmosphere had 25 times more energy built up in it, ready to be released in one violent outbreak? well, that's what we've got going on across parts of the united states at the moment, through texas and oklahoma. these storm clouds have already produced some tornadoes, and there is the potential for some of these tornadoes to become violent, wide, and have a long track along the ground. so some extreme weather there across the united states. here in the uk, though, over the next few hours, expect a little bit more rain to come in. scotland, some damp weather here. otherwise, it's a largely dry picture, but again it's quite murky around some of our eastern coasts, with some mist and fog patches particularly again for eastern areas of scotland. so for tuesday morning, for many of us, actually, it's a decent start to the day. the winds should be light

and there should be plenty of sunshine around across northern ireland, for most of england and wales. and increasingly, we'll see the skies brighten up in scotland as well. but, as that process happens, the rain eases, we'll start to see some showers breaking out, and they could turn heavy and thundery. maybe a few showers as well getting going across eastern england. otherwise it's dry and in any sunshine, it should feel pleasantly warm, given the light winds. it's a similar day for many of us on wednesday. again, a lot of drier weather around, with some sunshine. but there will be some thicker cloud working into northern scotland, particularly the northern isles, with some rain and cool weather. temperaturesjust ten in lerwick. we might see some of that rain getting into aberdeenshire as well. but elsewhere, a similar kind of weather prospect. a few isolated showers, but it's mainly dry with some sunshine. so, the next few days, feeling warm in any sunshine. a few slow—moving showers are possible and the winds are going to stay light. but subtle signs of something of a change as we head towards thursday. we've got a weather system lurking in the atlantic, and there is a chance that we could see some of the rain brushing into western areas. a little bit of uncertainty about that, but for many of us, i think there'll be a little bit

more in the way of high cloud in the sky, making any sunshine hazy. quite warm again, though — temperatures high teens to low 20s fairly widely. now, on into friday and the weekend, it looks like the jetstream is going to start moving straight across the uk, and that will tend to encourage outbreaks of rain, particularly across northern areas, so we could see some rain at times. some uncertainty in the details of the rain. it will probably turn cloudier and breezier, though, through the weekend. that's your weather.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with louise minchin and dan walker. 0ur headlines today: more than 500 arrests as police target the drugs gangs exploiting society's most vulnerable people. the chancellor, philip hammond, warns conservative leadership hopefuls — don't pursue a no—deal brexit. good morning. thousands ofjobs at risk as union officials meet ministers over reports that british steel is on the brink of collapse. the three—time formula 1 world champion nikki lauda has died at the age of 70 — nine months after undergoing a lung transplant.